


I'd Like to Prove the Myths Right

by tuesdaysinoctober



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, One Shot, Zuko is a theatre nerd, katara prefers leggings, mythology is involved but not fleshed out, ozai is still being a bad parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:54:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27725102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuesdaysinoctober/pseuds/tuesdaysinoctober
Summary: Katara doesn't really like denim until she meets Zuko
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62





	I'd Like to Prove the Myths Right

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, y'all! This is my first time writing for Zutara and posting on AO3. @SooperSara posted a bunch of Zutara Week prompts from a couple years ago on Tumblr and one of the 2008 ones was denim, which really jumped out at me. Please enjoy!

Katara has never been a person to wear denim. 

She’s never had a reason to. Where she used to live, although it was cold, layers could be easily achieved by wearing leggings and sweatpants.  
Now, where she lives is warmer, so jeans have never needed to be worn. 

She doesn’t like denim jackets. Katara finds them too big and too hard to move in. She appreciates the patches that can be worn on them; Suki’s “I’m here because you broke something” comes to mind but they just aren’t her style. 

Denim shorts are either too tight or too loose, so what’s the point of wearing them if she could just wear athletic shorts year round?

Katara does not like denim until she meets Zuko. 

They meet through Suki or Sokka or both of them, Katara can’t remember. She knows he’s two years older, that he’s in both debate and theatre. She thinks she has heard his name over the loudspeaker a couple of times, whether for praise or punishment she isn’t sure. 

Zuko is a fan of jeans. To say that he is a fan, though, in Katara’s opinion, is a bit of an understatement. She has rarely seen Zuko without jeans. Sweatpants, maybe once, but she’s pretty sure that was a costume for theatre. 

She doesn’t mind denim when Zuko introduces her to his uncle, Iroh, who is a kind, kind man who runs a tea shop and who loves his nephew. Iroh loves his nephew like a son and Katara cannot see why for the longest time. She regrets that time, if she’s being honest. 

Zuko has a sister, Katara comes to learn. Azula, as it turns out, who Katara has not necessarily known, but has been aware of. Azula, who is extraordinarily competitive and smart and is like a whiplash on her best days and a third degree burn on her worst. 

Zuko loves his sister, except it is not the same love that Katara and Sokka love each other with. It is the love of regrets and wishes and wants of the past. It is the love of where did it go wrong? Katara thought this love could only be achieved in past romances but evidently, it can be achieved with living siblings as well. 

Zuko’s mother left and Zuko’s father continues his terrible tirade against his children, coming home drunk, then yelling, beating. He calls it, “the works,” which stays in Katara’s mind for a long time after Zuko murmurs this, half asleep on Katara and Sokka’s couch. Katara is the only one around to hear. Sokka was in the kitchen, Suki was in the bathroom, and Aang and Toph were arguing over which movie to watch in the other room. Katara will not risk kissing Zuko’s forehead, though some inexplicable part of her wants to. She simply grabs his hand and squeezes. Zuko wakes up again, truly, when everyone comes back into the living room. 

He opened his heart to her and now she must open hers to his.

Katara accomplishes this one day, when she is coming out of a student council meeting and Zuko is coming out of rehearsal. Katara has had a crappy day, if she says so herself, and she does.  


A Mother’s Day tea was planned and Katara laments not being able to have a mother right now, because she is almost sure that her mother would be delighted to go. Katara would be delighted to go, to giggle with her mother over finger sandwiches and tiny little desserts. Of course, that is not possible. 

Zuko notices the tears about to spill over and hurries her to his car, where she sobs and he pats and comforts, understanding the loss of a mother in a way that some grief counselors never could. 

From then on, she finds herself talking and laughing with Zuko. He’s a bit of a dork, as she finds out. His laugh is mostly a snort. He’s deeply into his theatre classes, which serves him well, because he can be rather dramatic over the tiniest things, when he wants to be. Katara doesn’t mind. 

He’s very interested in mythology, just like Katara, which surprises her at first, but then, not really. Zuko acts out stories as a pastime, why shouldn’t he enjoy reading them? 

Katara finds that she’s rather fond of denim when Zuko kisses her on a camping trip. It was planned by Suki and the two of them were conned into telling stories of the stars for everyone. 

She mentions she’s cold, which is how Zuko’s denim jacket comes to be around her shoulders. It’s also how Suki’s eyebrows stay into her hairline throughout the rest of the night. 

Zuko tells the myth of Agni and Katara the myth of Tui and La. They end each respective story looking at each other in wonder. Was it a coincidence that they told the story of the sun and moon? Katara doesn’t think so. 

Zuko doesn’t either. Four of their friends start the hike back to the campsite but he murmurs something Katara doesn’t quite catch. 

“You seem rather fond of the moon.” 

“You seem rather fond of the sun,” she returns. 

“A great love story in the making,” he says. 

“I’d think so.” 

“Could I kiss you, then, and prove the myths right?” 

She nods. When Zuko kisses her, Katara doesn’t think she’d mind wearing denim for the rest of her life.

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo that's my one shot. I know it's a little short but I had fun writing it and I hope y'all enjoyed reading it.


End file.
